Sex scenes in movies and on TV may look enticing and gratifying for all involved, but there aren’t a whole lot of actors out there who consider cinematic lovemaking to be all that wonderful. For instance, most performers wear some kind of uncomfortable protective sheath around their genitals, whether for privacy purposes or for censoring purposes. Girls star Lena Dunham, however, ain’t got time for flesh-colored coverings when she’s fictionally doing the deed.
In one of the funniest and raunchiest interviews ever put together, THR got Dunham in the same room with comedian Amy Schumer, Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Ellie Kemper, Black-ish’s Tracee Ellis Ross, and Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon. It didn’t take long for the conversation to get R-rated, at which point Dunham came out with this.
I stopped wearing the nude patch after the first season of Girls. There’s not one guy who works on that show who hasn’t seen the inside of my vagina…This patch – you glue it over your vagina. It gets sweaty and always falls off. My male co-stars, at the end of the day, don’t care.
Not that Dunham’s Hannah has had sex with every male character on Girls, but there have been enough that the actress would be fully aware of how uncomfortable such a patch would be, and she’s well within her rights to be as cozy as she wants on her own show. And for what it’s worth, the male actors in the scenes are apparently all wearing penis bags, so I guess that helps to keep everyone’s business to themselves. (Not all actors are fans of this kind of cover-up, though.)
Dunham also shared more thoughts on how people view sex scenes.
I never understand when people say, ‘Sex scenes are so mechanical; it doesn’t feel like anything.’ It feels like someone fucking you! It’s confusing.
I’m no prude or anything (as Kemper claims to be in the interview), but there’s no way I could be comfortable performing simulated sex on a set. Perhaps that’s because I’m not a great actor or because I don’t have a great body, but it’s probably a combination of the two with a load of other psychological problems thrown in. I digress.
The rest of the article is a hoot in every which way, even as it shines a light on how these actresses in particular, and others in general, are treated in Hollywood. Everyone has horror stories about past experiences involving sexism, racism, and other forms of shameful rudeness.
So keep all that in mind the next time you’re watching Hannah getting it on with someone on Girls. Or don’t, really. Just watch the show and keep it on the air.
